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| India's freedom struggle. www.google.com |
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| Jallianwalla Bagh massacre 1913 India's freedom struggle. www.google.com |
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| India's freedom struggle. www.google.com |
The activists focused their attention on the repressive and arrogant British officers and chose three among them. Their first target was
James Peddy. Though well-read, this ICS officer was a tough man and had a lousy reputation for his rude treatment of the natives. His notoriety was quite well-known and his speciality was to beat a victim as long as he could. When dealing with freedom fighters, he was a ferrous dog and his bite would be a bad and painful one. With respect to satyagrahis, never had he shown any mercy, rather he would beat them hard till they became unconsciousness. As for Indian women, there was no consideration for their gender. Without scruples, with glee, he would drag them to the middle of the street and strip them naked and leave them right there in full public view. Just imagine what sort of mental agony and torture, these women would have experienced under these circumstances. Can Collector Peddy pay for the psychological damages done to the women who wanted freedom for their land? How could they walk on the same street after this shameful incident? Indian women always give due importance to human dignity and modesty. As far as Peddy was concerned, if women' modesty was hurt, mentally they would become weak and next time they won't ever raise their voice against the Raj. Activists decided that this despicable devil - Collector James Peddy should not go unpunished.
Shashanka Dasgupta (comet), Phani Kundu, Jyoti Jeevan Ghosh and Vimal Dasgupta were chosen for the task of finishing Paddy. They got the weapons on 11 April 1931. On a couple of occasions, their scheduled plan to murder him did not happen for various reason. The last one being an exhibition event on May 7 which was to be inaugurated by Peddy.
The activists got a third chance. Taking advantage of a big playground close to Peddy's Bungalow, two of the comrades decided to go after Peddy for the 'final kill'. He was surrounded by teachers. The advantage was the interior was not well-lit, perhaps there was no power supply. A good chance was on the silver platter, a chance to escape in the dim light undetected. Around 5 pm 8 May 1931, two courageous youngsters posing as helping the Collector went close to him, whipped out the gun and fired at him in close range. Severely injured, Paddy died following day in the hospital. For the patriotic people, it was a great relief something like slaying a notorious Asura (demon), an occasion to rejoice. Both Jyoti and Vimal came out of the scene of crime secretly and safely without raising suspicion. This murder took place after Salt Satyagraha by the Congress had taken place and gained wide publicity across India and abroad. The British Raj levied tax on the cooking salt, an important item in cooking and there were wide spread protests across India. Gandhiji undertook salt Yatra to Dandi in Gujarat and broke the law by collecting salt on 6 April 1930 and later Sri C. Rajagopala Chari (Rajaji) went on a padayatra from Tiruchirapalli city, Tamil Nadu to Vedaranyam in Nagapatnam district and collected salt 28 April, 1930 along with Kamaraj Nadar, T.S.S. Rajan, Kakkan and Sardar Vedaratnam Pillai.
Soon a spate of violence took place in Midnapur district and countless British officials were scared and not happy to work in a place ridden with violent nationalists. The killing of D. E. Burge and Robert Douglas, both I.C.S. officers added a new dimension to the British administrative machinery. They tightened the security and, however, they had begun to realise that India's freedom from the British yoke was not that far off.
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2018/08/murder-of-three-colonial-british.html